"The Lottery" - Shirley Jackson

Analysis-

The setting was June 27th at the village square. There were several different characters but main ones were Mrs. Delacroix, Mr. Summers, and Mrs. Hutchison. The introduction introduces some of the characters and takes about the children playing with the stones and what not. The rising action was when everyone had drawn their slips of paper. The climax was when the Hutchison family had been picked and Mrs. Hutchison had been chosen to be stoned. There wasn't really a falling action or a denouement. I would say the conflict was Man vs. circumstances because no one could change what had happened. The point of view was 3rd person omnisicent because the author moved from character to character, event to event. Shirley Jackson definietly used irony has a writing device. Mrs. Hutchison should have been absent but she rushed there when she realized what day it was and then it ended up being her.

Response-

I liked this story because of the irony. Mrs. Hutchison almost forgot what day it was and when she realized what day it was she rushed to the village square to be a part of 'the lottery'. Throughout the story, I thought the lottery would mean that a family was going to get an amount of money, but instead it meant that one individual out of a choosen family would be stoned. When they were drawing people out of the Hutchison family, I was scared that it would be on of the little children. I don't know why people would want to carry on a tradition of this such. It is barbaric and unnecessary.